Pittsburgh Pirates: Three More Way to Open Payroll

Controllable Players

One thing the Pittsburgh Pirates do not have a lot of is players on big deals or late into arbitration. The team’s other high salary players on guaranteed contracts are as follow: Chris Archer, Starling Marte, Gregory Polanco, and Felipe Vasquez. Meanwhile, players receiving arbitration in phase two or three are Corey Dickerson (year three) and Keone Kela (year two).  Obviously, they will not trade Archer or Kela being that they just acquired them.

However, could the team trade one of the outfielders?  Now, of course, this seemed likely at one point.  Corey Dickerson is entering the final year of team control and had a really solid season.  The Pittsburgh Pirates could have looked to trade him this offseason.  At one point it seemed very likely because the team had promising prospect Austin Meadows waiting in the wings.  However, the team traded Meadows in the Archer deal.  Then Gregory Polanco underwent surgery and likely will miss at least the first month of the season.

Still, with Dickerson lining up to make likely north of $10 million, the team could look to sell high on him.  They could move him to a team that might have depth at shortstop and could use an outfielder.  Still, the team would likely have to acquire another outfielder either via the free agent market or in a separate trade.